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While the locked-out Senators were skating on their own at the Kanata Recreation Complex, GM Bryan Murray held court down the street at Scotiabank Place to discuss the opening of training camp for the club’s AHL affiliate in Binghamton.

“I really am. The type of camp we’ll have, the number of players, the competition level, the number of young players makes for a great deal of excitement,” said Murray.

Trying to make the best of a bad situation, Murray said the chance to develop under coach Luke Richardson is good for some of those who would have had a surefire shot of competing for jobs if Ottawa camp had opened on Sept. 21.

“A majority of them know where they’re going to be playing,” said Murray. “They get a chance to play at a good level. It’s a good introduction to pro hockey. It should be a very good league this year with a number of strong candidates on entry-level (contracts) that are down there.

“It gives them a chance to do things, it gives chance for Luke to work with them and develop so that they will be good players at the upper level some day.”

For now, Lehner is pencilled in as the No. 1 goalie for Richardson. That could change. Netminder Ben Bishop, the club’s backup to Craig Anderson, was on the AHL roster last spring so he’s eligible to sign a minor-league deal.

Murray said the organization is trying to decide what to do with Bishop, but he wants to play and there’s a strong possibility he’ll be with the Baby Sens if the two sides are able to get an agreement in place.

“We’ve talked about it. The first week or so of training camp we’re not doing that,” said Murray. “At the end of that time, I know Ben wants to play, we’ve talked to him.”

Though many of the prospects at Binghamton’s camp are going to be getting their introduction to the AHL, that’s won’t be the case for everybody. Defenceman Jared Cowen, who spent all last season in the NHL, is in for an adjustment.

He suited up for 10 games with the Baby Sens when they won the Calder Cup in June, 2011. He hasn’t been back to the city since because he made Ottawa coming out of training camp last year and probably didn’t think he’d have to look back

“Knowing Jared, he will (be focused). We’ve talked to him. Like every player who has played in the NHL, I think for the first day it’s a little disappointment maybe,” said Murray. “Beyond that, he’s so competitive, he knows a lot of the players because he played down there before.

“Luke certainly knows him and he knows Luke. That’s certainly beneficial. This will help Jared refine his game as well.”

During the 2004-05 lockout, Jason Spezza, Antoine Vermete and Ray Emery spent the season in Binghamton and saw their play greatly improve.

“They were able to go down there and dominate,” said Murray. “The comfort level (Spezza) had playing a lot of minutes was a good thing as he stepped up to the NHL, he was really able to develop his game to another level.”